Redhawk Caldera friends become family

He didn't smell quite like Peregrine, but it wasn't like he smelled bad. It was pleasant. Fox felt heady and sad and really all she wanted was for Shrike to comfort her. He asked if she was doing ok, and that was the final straw. She wanted to yell at him, rip his throat out, and spit it in his face. She wasn't "doing ok." Far from it. "No," was the only word she could manage to get out, though.

How was she supposed to go on without Peregrine? He had been here, with her, for what seemed like eternity. She'd only been a little over a year when they'd met, and not much older when she'd gone to him in Blacktail Deer Plateau. Her first time, with him, it hadn't been romantic. It had been necessary, and that was how she felt about Shrike in this moment.

"I want you, Shrike." And sure, ninety percent of that statement was the hormones, and at least five percent was grief, but that last five percent was just plain Fox. Shrike was the most capable, strongest, trustworthy male she had among her ranks. That was how she had always chosen them.